> Does it not seem obvious why some would be willing to accept Musk's faults?
No, not when you consider that our current trade secret laws (under various global intellectual property systems and agreements), which Musk's Tesla and SpaceX and other tech corporations use, are devastatingly blocking innovation. In contrast, the patent system does, by design, support innovation (although not well) — more on that below. Our current trade secret laws, and the corporate lobbyists who had a big hand in shaping them, are to blame for creating today's monopolies, including Tesla (an example of a Tesla monopoly is described below: Maxwell's dry electrode battery design).
"Hiding inventions as trade secrets acts to protect multinational corporations [...] This is the reason that huge multinationals lobby so hard for strong trade secret laws and weak patent laws. This is clearly shown in Musk’s low valuation of his patents and high valuation of trade secrets."
This is the full picture:
"In 2014, Elon Musk made Tesla’s patents available for anyone to use for free, stating that “technology leadership is not defined by patents.” Earlier this month, Musk announced again that he had released all of Tesla’s patents, promising the company “will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology. [...] Musk believes patents only serve “to stifle progress” and that by releasing his patents he can help get progress moving again—and that progress will somehow win the fight against climate change.
But do patents stifle progress, and will releasing patents really have this result?"
[...]
"Patents are a trade with a government. The inventor agrees to disclose the invention to the public in exchange for a limited exclusive right to the invention. No one else can make, use, sell or import the invention without the inventor’s permission. The public interest is served because the invention is publicly disclosed, so anyone can improve the invention and patent that advancement. And anyone can design around it and patent that invention. If the invention has commercial value, no doubt many people will jump in and do one or both."
This is the key part:
"Musk clearly does not value how patents promote progress. But he does value trade secrets. Tesla is known for keeping a tight lid on its trade secrets. They protect these trade secrets as far as the law will allow them [2], including suing employees and the rest of the industry.
Tesla recently acquired battery manufacturer Maxwell Technologies’ company for $218 million to learn its trade secrets for dry electrode batteries. Obviously, Musk values trade secrets, and he must believe that they do not stifle progress, or he would have released them to the public as well.
However, trade secrets do not promote the progress of innovation. Trade secrets stifle progress.
A trade secret, by definition, is a secret. Secrets are only known to the holder of the secret, so no one else knows how the invention works. Since no one else knows how the invention works, nobody else can improve it like Singer improved Howe’s sewing machine by inventing a straight pull cloth feed. Not only can no one improve it, but no one can combine it with something new like Howe did in inventing the lock-stitch."
"[W]hen an invention could be patented, keeping it as a trade secret denies the public knowledge of how the invention works, which in turn denies the public the ability to improve, combine, or invent around the invention. This secrecy slows the progress of innovation, and therefore harms the public.
Trade secrets have become the preferred invention protection choice of many tech multinationals. Many of these companies have huge numbers of customers with thin products that run on or behind internet browsers. Most inventions in these fields can be hidden behind the browser, buried in the bowels of a datacenter, encrypted in code, or embedded in a chip and thus easily protected by trade secrets.
[...]
Hiding inventions as trade secrets acts to protect these huge multinational corporations [...] This is the reason that huge multinationals lobby so hard for strong trade secret laws and weak patent laws. This is clearly shown in Musk’s low valuation of his patents and high valuation of trade secrets.
If Musk truly wants to promote progress, thereby saving the world from climate change, he would patent his inventions and protect his patents jealously, and he would release his trade secrets for everyone to use freely—especially the trade secrets he just acquired for dry electrode batteries." [1]
The ipwatchdog website has a full example to illustrate the above points (the sewing machine), which I haven't copied, so I recommend you read the full article if you're interested.
[1] https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2019/02/19/dont-fooled-patent-pur...
[2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/after-subpoenain...